The Trouble With Bright Girls

For women, ability doesn’t always lead to confidence. Here’s why.

Successful women know only too well that in any male-dominated profession, we often find ourselves at a distinct disadvantage. We are routinely underestimated, underutilized, and even underpaid. Studies show that women need to perform at extraordinarily high levels, just to appear moderately competent compared to our male coworkers.

But in my experience, smart and talented women rarely realize that one of the toughest hurdles they’ll have to overcome to be successful lies within. We judge our own abilities not only more harshly, but fundamentally differently, than men do. Understandingwhy we do it is the first step to righting a terrible wrong. And to do that, we need to take a step back in time.

Chances are good that if you are a successful professional today, you were a pretty bright fifth grade girl. My graduate advisor, psychologist Carol Dweck (author of Mindset) conducted a series of studies in the 1980s, looking at how bright girls and boys in the fifth grade handled new, difficult and confusing material.

She found that bright girls, when given something to learn that was particularly foreign or complex, were quick to give up–and the higher the girls’ IQ, the more likely they were to throw in the towel. In fact, the straight-A girls showed the most helpless responses. Bright boys, on the other hand, saw the difficult material as a challenge, and found it energizing. They were more likely to redouble their efforts, rather than give up.

One thought on “The Trouble With Bright Girls”

Did they establish IQ vs grades? It looks like they just assumed it was the same.

Most of the really obviously smart folks I knew had rather mid-range grades.

The guys that get high grades do see stuff as a challenge to overcome, barring a subset of “this is insultingly easy” guys.

Gals tend more towards the “Hey, I can do this!” angle and do it if their initial push indicates they can while getting an ego boost that way…but if there’s no egoboost awarded, they don’t make an effort.

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